8/6/12—Taking a Good, Honest Look

Today's Draw: Three of Wands from Melissa Townsend's Tarot. Do you act in alignment with your beliefs about how others should be? Do you ever find you've fallen short of the mark and become akin to the very things you judge others for being? Have you ever noticed that, just when society starts to forget all the hate in the world, someone comes along to remind us?

Every time there's a hate crime, an act of terrorism or hate rhetoric, it elicits a certain response in this country. First people say, "how could anyone be so cruel, unaccepting and judgmental? There's just no excuse for it." Then, shortly thereafter you'll hear people say, "those bastards should be tortured the way they tortured others" or "string those useless mofos up and be done with them!"

You've probably even thought something along those lines yourself at one time or another. But can you see the irony?

This week's theme is about oneness. Oneness is seeing others the same as we see ourselves...focusing on similarities, rather than differences...seeing ourselves in others.

I believe having a stronger sense of oneness is society's way out of hate and separation. I believe that's important because the more diverse our cultures get, the more we need understanding. There will always be hate. But there will be less of the hate we hate, if we just learn to stop hating.

Who, you? Yes you. When you hate the haters, you're a hater. It's that simple. And if you're a hater, you're part of the problem and not part of the solution.

Further, if you feel you're "better" than the haters—even the worst among them—you're also part of the problem. There is no moral high ground in oneness. There is no good and bad duality. No us and them. There's just one.

Yeah, yeah. I said a lot of this yesterday. And some of you may have decided that hating the haters is the only morally correct thing to do. And that's ok. I'll just address whomever is left.

I think sometimes these acts come along to wake society up. I mean, look at their timing. It seems as soon as we get complacent, another thing happens to put us back on our game. And "our game" isn't about taking the easy road. It's about taking a good hard look at ourselves and seeing if we're in alignment with what we believe.

That's what today's Three of Wands has come here to ask of us. It's never easy to see yourself as part of something you don't approve of, but that's what personal growth is about. We see something in others that we find annoying or reprehensible and live that way for years, only to look at them again one day down the line see ourselves mirrored back to us.

As our lives go on, we seem to have an inexhaustible supply of self denial as we uncover ugly bit after ugly bit and fix it. And it is only then that we can look back and see why so-and-so was in our lives and what they came here to show us. They were ourselves, echoing back at us what we needed to take a longer look at. And, instead, we pushed them away. We separated them from us with an attitude of "that kind of person is not MY kind of person."

This is a hard week. If you didn't read yesterday's entry, do. Because it's time for all of us to not only ask ourselves what we stand for, but to also see where we're falling short of our own mark. When we separate ourselves from the world's issues thinking that it doesn't have anything to do with us or that we would never such-and-such way, we're part of the problem. If we really want to honor our paths and live up to our rhetoric, we'll have the balls to look deeply and honestly enough to become part of the solution.

8/6/12—Seeing Similarities

Today's Draw: Six of Flames from the Margarete Petersen Tarot. Is there a certain kind of person that you really can't abide? Do you feel powerless over the hate in this world? What, if anything, do you feel you have in common with people who commit crimes like the recent one in Wisconsin? 

Based on today's draw and recent news about seven Sikhs being killed in a temple shooting, we're going to do a week on oneness. When I say oneness, I mean the idea that we are all one. There's more to the idea of oneness, but that's what I mean to focus on this week—our connection to everything in the universe. Our similarity to everything in the universe. The idea that no one is different from us. No one is a stranger. 


The book for this deck says two things regarding this concept. First, it says this card is about "the fire of going beyond your limits and expanding your boundaries." We tend to live insulated lives around people "like ourselves". And in doing so, we nurture a "people like us" and "people not like us" mentality. It happens everywhere and it's not something I'm judging. We all do it. There are people we feel comfortable around and people we don't. 


The problem is that when we insulate ourselves too much, we tend to see the differences in people who are not part of our group, rather than the similarities. Oneness is all about seeing the similarities. So this card is asking you to go beyond your limitations and expand your circle large enough to see similarities. This could be about befriending someone of a different culture, volunteering to serve others less fortunate or attending an event you wouldn't normally attend. If there's a particular group you have issues with, really push beyond those boundaries and spend time with them...focusing on the similarities. 


The second thing the book said was "the boundaries of Not-I and I are beginning to dissolve." That's what I'm talking about. And it's not just that other humans—or even other sentient beings—are at one with you. It's everything. When you think about the spiritualities people pretty much universally admire, like Buddhism or that of Native Americans, the common denominator is respect for all things. There is nothing that is not sacred.


It's easy to say, "I'm not the problem here." But I contend you are. We all are. I don't think there's anyone in the eyeshot of my blog that has this principle mastered. Whether it's stupid people, homeless people, drug addicts, murderers, cheaters, Muslims, aboriginals, mean people—whatever—there is some group or "label" you have judgments and unflattering opinions about. Those opinions, magnified ever so slightly become fears. And those fears magnified ever so slightly become hate. Then justification for violence. Then violence. And the catch is, you are more similar to "those people" than different. But because we see the differences rather than the similarities, we support a line of thought that, down society's line, leads to this kind of tragedy.


When it comes to those whose behavior is different than yours, you nonetheless have the same *capacity* to do the things they've done. Think you could never be an addict? There but for the grace of God go you. Think you could never be a criminal? If you had been raised under different circumstances, you very well could be. Think you couldn't be mentally ill? Just one change in your chemical makeup could change all that. The line between "us" and "them" is not only thin, it's fragile. Nobody dreams these things for themselves. The are the result of minor variables that you somehow managed to skate past. You have the same capacity for that behavior as the do. It was the details in their lives that made the difference.


As for people from different cultures and religions...they have the same dreams for their children you do. They have the same love for relatives, the same need to be accepted, the same talents and dreams. When you approach others from the perspective of what's similar rather than what's different, you're walking in the footsteps of Jesus and Buddha....and love. 

Sunday morning, a congregation gathered to worship their god. Seven people were killed. Early reports said, among them, was at least one priest. I believe you have to be mentally ill to do something like that. But I think we also need to see how each of us contributes to these kinds of hate crimes. We contribute by participating in and enabling an "us" and "them" sensibility. We are more like those sihks than we realize. We are more like their killer, too. And until we, as a society, learn to embody that truth, we won't be supporting change. It has to start somewhere. It can start with me and you.

8/4/12-8/5/12—Thinking Clearly

Weekend Reading: Ace of Swords from the Rohrig. Get ready for a moment of clarity this weekend. Maybe you'll see an old challenge differently. Maybe you'll light on a solution you've been seeking for a while. Or maybe you'll be hit with a eureka moment that could change your life! The Ace of Swords comes in and cuts through all the mental crap that stands in the way of productive thought and making the best possible decisions in your life. So welcome its energy and stay alert for its inspiration. Clarity is on the way!

8/3/12—Creating Because You Can

Today's Draw Classic*: Ace of Wands from the Parrott Tarot.  Is some new creative path or project calling to you? Has it been too long since the last time you expressed yourself artistically? If you knew you could do it well, what would you create?

Rounding out Zing Week is a classic post about the Ace of Wands. The Ace tells us of new passion and creativity bursting forth from within. You can think of it like your inner zing. Some creative pursuit wants to be birthed. The Ace of Wands says it's time. You have the passion and energy to do so…or you will if you just get your hands dirty.*** So let your ideas flow.

Many years ago I learned a couple of valuable lessons about creating art. And by art, I don't necessarily mean a painting. It can be creative writing. Or cooking. Or music. Or anything else that triggers the right side of the brain. I've always been very creative. I cook. I sew. I write. I craft. I make jewelry. But for the life of me, I cannot draw. I've taken classes. But I'm just not good at it. That doesn't keep me from painting, though. And it doesn't keep me from designing my own stained glass pieces. Nor does it keep me from doing a number of other things that could easily benefit from the ability to draw.

Painting, especially was hard for me. And when I design a piece of stained glass, it takes me FOREVER to get what's in my head on paper. The path between what I see in my head and what comes out of my hand is very convoluted and blocked. But what I learned early on in trying is this: Do it anyway. Art doesn't have to be for anyone but you. There is zing in the process. And I'm a process kind of girl. Once something is done, even with my writing, I'm done with it. The fun came in the doing. I did hang one of my paintings in my living room for a while. Some people liked it. Some mocked it. But it didn't matter. It wasn't for them.

So not being good at something isn't an excuse not to create. And the second lesson is, if you don't know where to start or what to do, just start. Just start scribbling. Or embroidering. Or cooking. You'll figure it out. Again, it's not about being perfect, it's about enjoying the process and doing something different in your life. So just start anywhere.

I liken this to a lesson I learned in my "psychic" training. If you don't know what to say or how to interpret something, just start talking. If you can't readily find the words, the words will find you. It works every time. To illustrate my point, go back up to the three asterisks. I had no idea what I was going to write about in this entry until I wrote that sentence. I just started writing. And the idea found me.

There is no such thing as someone without any creative spark. You may have told yourself this over and over. And you may believe it. But more than likely, you're just afraid you won't do it well enough. And seeing as how that's not the point, just go for it. Whatever it is that you'd do if you knew you could do it well, go to the store and get supplies and just play with it this weekend. You don't have to show anyone. You don't even have to like the finished product yourself. The zing is in the doing.

*Adapted from 5/3/11. 

8/2/12—Accepting the Way Things Are

Today's Draw: The Five of Swords from the Mythic Tarot. Is there something going on in your life that's really got your goat? Is something coming to an end before you're ready...or not coming to an end fast enough? Are you tired of trying to make something change that just doesn't seem to want to change?


Nothing blocks life's zing like refusing to accept "what is". And that's what this card has come to tell us about today...acceptance. It doesn't matter if something's unfair or if wasn't supposed to be this way. It's tough beans if you don't like it or if others get to do it and you can't. None of that matters.


It is what it is.


And you can accept it and find a way to work with it. Or you can fight against it and just create more pain for yourself. I'm not talking about things you can change, here. This isn't a social commentary about becoming a sheep and letting the tide take you. This is about things you can't change. Being fired from a job. The end of a relationship. Getting sick. Having physical, mental or emotional limitations. Pushing up against another person's will. The situation may be end up being different in the future, but right now it is what it is and no amount of begging, fighting, manipulation, displaced anger or vengeance is going change it.


It is what it is.


Sure, you can do all that stuff. But ultimately you're hurting yourself. And keeping zing at arm's length. And wallowing in bad energy. And creating bad karma for yourself. And changing nothing. Of course there's going to be pain and mourning on the road to acceptance, but holding on to anger/revenge/a grudge is, as they say, like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die.


I have a theory that most pain is caused by pushing up against what is. I find myself doing it from time to time. I know my particular situation *can* change. I'm just limited in how much it can change right now. And in the meantime, I'm not doing myself any good or getting any closer to change by not accepting where I am and what conditions are. And, for my situation, trying to change it while I'm limited in my ability to change is just defeating me. But I'm proud to say I have learned to bypass most non-acceptance. And to stop all the histrionics and arm flailing and drama that go along with it. And, for that, I'm grateful.


These things—like drama and non-acceptance and the kind of competition we talked about yesterday—are all things that put distance between us and our happiness. We involve ourselves in things that don't serve. And sure, it's not conscious. We don't WANT to be miserable. But sooner or later we need to question what purpose it serves.


Usually it this behavior keeps us involved in the stories we tell ourselves—"I never get what I want." "Everyone's always screwing me." "There's so much drama in my life." "I'm not lovable." "Everyone around me is an idiot." "There are no good men out there." "I should be able to do this." "Life isn't fair." etc. and so on. And as long as we're caught up these stories, all the power is outside of ourselves and, powerless, we conveniently never have to do anything to change our lives. The problem is, change and forward movement are what keeps our lives fresh and exciting and full of zing.


Orestes, the guy on the ground in today's card, is being told by Apollo that he has to avenge his father's death. He doesn't want to do this, but Apollo is a god and this is how things are. Not doing it is just going to make his life worse. And fighting up against "what it" isn't going to change anything. He's still going to have avenge the death. 


Is there something familiar in that situation in your life? Something where you're just prolonging your pain? Look at all the stuff that you want to change in your life and see which things may just need to be accepted for the time being. If you took away that frustration and replaced it with acceptance, you may not only open yourself up for more joy in your life, but you may just stumble upon a new solution for your problem. 

8/1/12—Dropping Out of the Contest

Today's Draw: Ten of Chalices from the Tarot of the New Vision. What are you lacking in life? What do you have better than everyone else? When you add it all up, are you "winning"?

It's hump day in Zing Week and today's message is, to put it succinctly, count your blessings. The Tarot of the New Vision is an interesting deck, because it takes tarot's staple Rider Waite deck and re-visions it from the opposite angle. So, in the original card, we see this couple from the back, instead of the front. 

In doing this, the deck comes up with some interesting commentary on our traditional take on the cards. For example, in the Rider Waite Ten of Cups, you see the couple looking at an idyllic farm home sitting at the edge of a meandering river in the distance. It seems like a magical moment when a rainbow of love floats over their heads as they look toward their perfect life. A card of wishes achieved and dreams fulfilled. And they will, most certainly, live happily ever after. 

But in the New Vision, we see that perhaps their reality is more mundane. They are in front of a modest home and the river is more creek-like. The rainbow is gone, but the sky is a beautiful shade of pink and blue. The pavement and landscape here are a bit rockier. And they have a goofy shelter dog running toward them. But in this card they are every bit as happy as we imagined them when we thought the other house might be theirs.

Often, our reality doesn't fit our visions of perfection. Our home may not be a mini-mansion. Our living room may not look like it inspired a Pottery Barn catalog. Our grounds may not be precisely manicured, our dog may not be purebred and our husband and son may not wear pants. But that doesn't mean we don't have "the best of everything". 

No matter how you look at this picture, there's shelter and a fireplace for warmth. There's ready access to water. There's fertile land. The only thing that could make this scene "less than" is a lack of gratitude. 

The other day I was behind a man and his three children in line at the grocery store. The boy got some gum. The older girl got a magazine with Justin Bieber on it. And the middle girl got nothing...haha. She tried to throw something in the cart because, "everyone else got something". But her dad said, "this isn't a contest. Next time you'll get something and they won't."

If you're like me, you're thinking the girl should have got something. Because clearly it IS a contest...one her brother and sister won and she, alone, lost. In her eyes, there's only one reason dad didn't treat her like the other two—because he doesn't love her as much. Remember feeling that way? I could totally empathize with that little girl and almost offered to buy her something, but I knew it wasn't my place. 

Like it or not, we ARE socialized from an early age to believe life is about winning, and winning is usually defined as ending up with the highest score, whether that's measured in grades, athletic achievement, the value of what you have, how much you earn or what your status/rank/title is. That mindset stands between us and being truly happy with what we have, no matter how much, little or average it is. And it also stands between us and our zing. Because we spend so much of our time climbing that we never take the time to enjoy the view. 

While we all intellectually know it's not a contest, we all get caught up in the contest mentality from time to time. I believe we're all there more often than we're conscious of. But what if we started measuring contests in terms of contentment, inner peace and kindness? The world would be a different place. Just like the couple in today's card, we might actually look toward the perfect house on the hill and feel utterly triumphant about our simple cottage on the rocky knoll, our goofy junkyard dog and our dress-wearing husband. Instead of continuing to strive for some ideal destination, we might finally realize we've already arrived.  

Facebook readers can see both cards at http://thedailytarotdraw.blogspot.com/

7/31/12—Making Mischief

Today's Draw: Seven of Swords from the Lazy Afternoon Tarot by Karen West*. How long has it been since you've made a little mischief? Or plotted something in secrecy? Isn't it time you had a little devious fun?


Next up on Zing Week is the card of the thief. Certainly stealing something would put some zing in your life, but it would only be temporary zing until you got locked up and sent to the big house. So in lieu of that, I suggest being mischievous, instead. And, further, I suggest being mischievous in ways that puts zing in others' lives, too. 


Maybe you can plan a surprise party or some other sort of surprise...like an outing, a gift or something else. Or you could do something nice for someone without them ever knowing. Or maybe you could secretly plan your own escape from the everyday...a day off from the grind. Whatever it is, make it a covert operation, because that adds to the fun. 


Zing happens when we break out of our rote patterns and shake things up in our lives. With the Seven of Swords, we never know for sure if the person is stealing something outright or if they're stealing something they feel is rightfully theirs. So many of turn our lives over to other priorities or get caught in our routines. Maybe it's time to steal those lives back and make a little harmless mischief.


*This is a limited edition of 50 decks, so if you want it, get it NOW.